Herpes Viral Latency and Interferon Regulatory Factors

Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF-7) plays important roles in viral latency, immune regulation, as well as host defense mechanisms. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latency, which is the best available system to study the functions of IRF-7, will be used to examine the role of IRF-7 in virus-cell interactions and transformation.